VIXEN
If somebody still has a
misconception that opera is only for the so called elite, who show themselves
off in the national operas and big festivals, such myths crash faster and faster
when new opera groups make new kind of opera performances. Helsinki Festival
and Comic Opera Helsinki brought to Konepajan Bruno (former railway engine
workshop of the Finnish State Railways) the performance of Vixen by the English
Silent Opera group. In Vixen Leoš Janáček’s “Cunning Vixen” opera is combined with speech
plus electronics and live music. Konepajan Bruno gives a suitably rough
environment for a story that tells about homeless people in London and a
homeless shelter. The audience hears the opera through earphones and they
follow the performers to different rooms, where the events take place.
In the beginning of
the opera I was a bit sceptic, since the first act happened literally in the
midst of the audience and standing a bit on the side, I could not even see the
rather small main character. But in the next rooms the audience was able to sit
(on sofas, pillows, euro pallets, turned crates, on whatever there was
available) and it was easier to follow the performance. The story of the
Cunning Vixen had been moved from a farm and forest to the streets of London
and a homeless shelter and instead of a vixen and a hunter, there was a
homeless girl and a shelter keeper. The version (perhaps a bit surprisingly)
worked really well.
A big thank you for
the success should go to the performers. Rosie Lomax was an amazing Vixen. A
small red-haired girl that the men could literally throw around with one hand
and whose suspicious attitude and falling in love could be heard in her bright
voice. Ivan Ludlow as the shelter keeper and Robin Bailey as the man who donated
leftover food and who falls in love with Vixen were also good. Actually there
were no weak links in the opera. All musicians/singers did steady work in their
roles.
Of course, you had to
be able to understand English at least relatively well to grasp the work and
its message (young people living on the streets) fully. The performers
sometimes spoke quickly and the pronunciation was not Oxford English and
sometimes you could hear through your headphones also other speech, like lists
of children who had run away from home. All in all an impressive performance.
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